


Tupelo Honey

by solisaureus



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: Angst, Baking, Crushes, Custom FMU, Dessert & Sweets, Drabbles, Established Relationship, F/F, Hair Braiding, Healing, Non-sexual forms of intimacy fic prompt challenge, oneshots, super minor blood/gore warning for the second chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 04:05:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18652546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solisaureus/pseuds/solisaureus
Summary: A collection of short fic prompt exercises from twitter! The theme is non-sexual forms of intimacy.





	1. Fleur (F!Robin)/Cordelia - one playing with the other’s hair

Cordelia, a woman so accustomed to the chaotic daily life of a Shepherd, cannot help but savor the simple consistency of a morning routine. She couldn’t let a single moment that passes between the first gentle rousing of daybreak and the click of the door behind herself and Fleur as they dutifully report to morning war table summons to go unappreciated. She pays as close attention to her partner as she readies herself for the day as though she were studying a map, and though Fleur occasionally rolls her eyes at her for it, she allows her this overt display of affection. In the midst of a war soldiers must suppress their yearnings of new love, and Fleur doesn’t have it in her heart to deny Cordelia these mornings. 

And so Cordelia sits and watches the way Fleur braids her hair along the side of her head, admiring her swift, deft hands and the golden gleam of her hair in the red rays of the sunrise. Fleur catches her gaze out of the corner of her eye and smirks. “Good with my hands, aren’t I?”

Cordelia snickers at the innuendo but doesn’t dignify it with a response. “Who taught you how to braid your hair?” she asks. 

Fleur pulls the length of her hair into a ponytail, checks the sides for smoothness, then drops her hands in her lap and shrugs. “It’s one of the many skills I woke up just having.”

“It’s one of the few skills I never considered learning,” Cordelia says. 

“Really?” Fleur clicks her tongue. “Shame. Your hair is perfect for braiding.”

“You think so?” 

“Any bored schoolgirl would agree,” Fleur nods sagely, then cocks her head and reaches for a strand of Cordelia’s feathery hair. “Huh, now that I’ve realized the temptation I can hardly resist. May I?” 

Cordelia’s heart flutters every time Fleur caresses her so casually, and she hopes she never gets used to it. She leans into the touch and hums. “Well, it’s not like I can ever refuse you anything.”

Fleur smiles and runs her fingers through the shorter lengths of hair that hang down the side of Cordelia’s face before reaching for a brush and remedying her tangled bedhead. The tingle of Cordelia’s scalp as Fleur gently works through her long hair is so pleasant that the snags don’t even bother her, and she closes her eyes and lets herself enjoy the sensation. Fleur’s fingers comb through it again once the brush has smoothed it to a sheen and then she methodically begins separating strands for twin plaits. 

The familiar warmth of Fleur’s hands so close to the back of Cordelia’s neck and soft, steady puffs of breath she feels lend the morning a tender intimacy that puts Cordelia into a state of meditative bliss. With her eyes closed and all her muscles free of tension, she imagines the focused expression that must be on Fleur’s face behind her. Tongue poking out from between her lips, rich brown eyes squinting in concentration, maybe a charming little head tilt...she had watched her partner working out so many strategies that she could picture her mannerisms perfectly in her head. 

Then, as with so much of their time alone together, it was over too soon. Fleur used cloth strips to tie the ends of the braids and smoothed them over Cordelia’s shoulders. She reached behind her and passed a hand mirror to Cordelia, saying “What do you think?” 

Wide-eyed, Cordelia put a hand to her cheek. “I think there’s nothing you can’t do. I’ve never seen my hair look like this before!”

Leaning forward, Fleur kissed her cheek and giggled. “You look beautiful.”


	2. Eirika/L’Arachel - patching up a wound

Though L’Arachel had been a healer for years, she was never known for her bedside manner. Bossy and energetic, her demeanor was rarely comforting to the sick and injured, but her restorative talents were so well-regarded that she was constantly inundated with hurt people in need of fixing. Many of her comrades-in-arms came to her for the most unremarkable bumps and scratches, and so she was used to seeing characters like Neimi and Ewan waiting for her in the healing tent. Others, like Marisa in particular, ignored any aches until they were too debilitating to cover up and L’Arachel would have to spend hours caring for a wound that wouldn’t have festered if it had been brought to her attention sooner. 

No one could hide their hurting from L’Arachel; she always sniffed out the pain sooner or later. No one except for Eirika, whose suffering she wore like a mantle, whose grief was such a constant that she would hardly be the same person without it. L’Arachel had witnessed Eirika sustain injuries in battle, but the princess never allowed her to administer a quick remedy before moving on to the next enemy, nor did she come to her for healing afterward. 

The first time L’Arachel cared for Eirika’s wounds wasn’t even upon Eirika’s own request. She was the only healer left at camp while a large portion of the army was off clashing with Valter’s forces nearby, and she was changing the bandages for a soldier’s minor laceration when the sound of galloping hooves quickly approaching startled her. She rushed outside and saw a frantic Ephraim atop his horse, using one arm to steady his sister in front of him. L’Arachel saw that Eirika was unconscious and her face was a ghostly shade of grey, and she nearly tripped over herself running to help get her down. 

With Ephraim’s help, L’Arachel carried her to a nearby tent and laid her listless form on the bedroll. Pushing down the panic boiling in her chest, she checked for vitals, and upon feeling a faint pulse she released her bleeding lip from her teeth. She turned to Ephraim to demand healing supplies from him, but he needed only to see her face before he leapt away to retrieve them. 

It wasn’t until this moment that L’Arachel realized that she relied on her authoritative bedside manner to steady herself during the immense stress and fright of treating near-lethal wounds. But when it was Eirika’s heart slowing in front of her, the sheer panic at the thought of losing her barred L’Arachel from accessing her humorous, self-assured persona. She reached for Eirika’s limp hand and held onto it for dear life until Ephraim returned with staves and medical supplies. 

“If you would have only let me help you earlier…” L’Arachel muttered as she prepared to do what she did best. “But it’s going to be alright. If you can be saved, I will stop at nothing to bring you back from death’s grip.”


	3. Sully/Sumia - sharing a dessert

Idly Sully wonders if eating too much pie will diminish the threat she poses to her battlefield enemies, but the enrapturing aroma of cherries simmering in their own syrup as Sumia brings her creation out to the table banishes the thought. 

“I made your favorite!” Sumia chirps, and her earnest smile reminds Sully of a border collie waiting for a treat. 

“What’s the occasion? I thought we were just havin’ our regular tea,” Sully inquirs as she reaches for a knife to cut into the pastry. She was never the type to wait for food to cool, especially not when it’s a fresh cherry pie. 

Sumia giggles. “Well, isn’t that occasion enough?” she says, shyly tucking an ashy ringlet behind her ear. “I just wanted to thank you for spending so much time with me.”

“Thank me? Mia, we’ve been havin’ tea together for years. If I thought spending time with you was a chore, don’tcha think I would’ve stopped by now?” 

Sumia reaches for a serving knife and assists Sully in extracting a gooey slice of pie, glistening cherries falling out the open sides like little coins. “Well, regardless, it’s never a bad time to remind someone that you value their company.” 

Sully chuckles and shovels a forkload of pie into her mouth, and the combination of crispy crust with the sweet-tart flavor of the fruit is so perfect it almost brings tears to her eyes. She swallows and meets Sumia’s gaze. “Sumia, you are a goddess and I love you.”

A shade of red to rival that of the cherries rises in Sumia’s cheeks and she looks down at her hands and smiles. Those words give her such a sugar rush that she barely touches the pie itself, and Sully doesn’t even notice.

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter: Fleur (F!Robin)/Cordelia and one playing with the other's hair  
> Second chapter: L'Arachel/Eirika and patching up a wound  
> Third chapter: Sully/Sumia and sharing a dessert


End file.
